Employee Rewards and Recognition

Many people think that companies that participate in rewarding and recognizing employees are just nice, but it is more than just a nice thing to do for employees, it is actually a communication tool that rewards employees for their hard work. Even small companies that have a smaller budget, can still use rewards as a way of recognizing employees that go over and beyond the call of duties. Of course, companies need to make it a fair reward system for all employees otherwise, you will end up with a hostile workplace, which is not the outcome you want.

Properly using employee recognition and rewards helps to boost morale in the workplace, which in turn boosts productivity. Rewards can be individual or for an entire group and it doesn't have to be a huge reward, you can just treat the team to a free lunch and just knowing that you are recognizing the team, makes a huge difference in productivity and morale. In addition, by using a reward system it encourages other employees to work harder in order to be recognized, which is something that every employee needs in order to stay motivated.

Keeping your employees engaged at work can sometimes be difficult. It is true that happy employees will work harder for you so you need to find ways to get them on board and excited about their jobs. You can do this if you have the right frame of mind and know how to communicate with your employees.

A big complaint in many work places is that they employees are not kept informed of what is going on. They come to work on a daily basis and do their work and that is all. There is nothing to keep them excited and make them work harder to achieve greater results for the company they are working for.

How to take initiative and get staff involved. A great way to get them involved, and essentially improve production, is to find ways that are unique to communicate with them. You can do this by providing them with presentations or with campaigns. The trick to designing these campaigns to fit their interests is to get into their frame of mind. Think about what you are trying to accomplish and then put yourself into their shoes.

What is it that they would like? What do you feel they would help to hold their interest and get them motivated? Rewards and incentives are great and they do not need to be monetary. There are many ways of how to take initiative. Sure, everyone loves some extra cash occasionally but they value recognition as well. They want to feel like they matter at work and that their efforts are not unappreciated or unrecognized.

If you have an important message that needs communicated and you are working towards increasing productivity or quality in your department or company, why not provide praise to those that are doing a great job and those that are meeting the requirements of the job? If you do this in a public setting, like putting their names on a bulletin board in the office or recognizing them in a meeting it will mean a great deal to them and will encourage them to work harder to achieve even greater results.

Another great motivator comes with the employees are informed about the situation at work. For example, if your department has been struggling with quality or with efficiencies, tell them! Do not beat them up but use positive reinforcements to get them moving on fixing the problem. It is all in how you say it. If you go into the conversation with a negative attitude and begin pointing fingers you are sure to get the opposite results, discouraged employees.

If you enter the meeting or campaign telling them about the good things they are doing and then lead gently into what needs to be worked on, they will be much more understanding. One way how to take initiative is to use the sandwich effect, positive/negative/positive. If you put the negative in the middle of the positive the blow seems to be a lot less harsh.

Knowing how to take initiative and communication is the key in any workplace. Employees need to feel appreciated and recognized in order to stay motivated. If you are successful at communicating the needs and accomplishments of the group, you will have a happy team working towards a goal together. Your retention rates will be higher and employees will really want to work hard for you. Your presentations and campaigns in the workplace are great ways to achieve this motivation. Your employees also need to know to take initiative so that they can be more productive.